Hidden Dragons (18 page)

“
And he’s getting it. Both
princesses are seeing to his burns, which is more than enough. They
are dragon healers.”

“
Yes, I know. Ouch!” he exclaimed
as his armor came away and good piece of his shirt with
it.

“
Is that the only spot where the
venom got through your armor?” she asked, already gauging the depth
of the wound on his shoulder. It wasn’t too bad and would heal well
if they got water and then burnjelly on it immediately.

He chucked the contaminated armor to the side
and bent over near the basin she indicated. The last thing they
wanted to do was spread the venom all over his body. Better to
rinse just the affected area at first, until they had diluted the
acid sufficiently. He knew the drill, apparently, and cooperated as
she poured bucket after bucket of water over his
shoulder.

“
Sweet
Mother of All, that stings!” he exclaimed as the water sluiced over
his raw skin.

“
I’m sorry,” she
whispered.

“
Don’t worry. I know it has to be
done,” he gasped. “Keep going. It’s starting to
dissipate.”

“
Good. That means we’ve diluted it
substantially. You should rinse your whole body off, in case there
are spots we haven’t noticed yet,” she advised him. “The shoulder
doesn’t look too bad.”

Robert stood and simply stripped off to his
skivvies right there, without any hesitation at all. Isabelle felt
her cheeks flame as he stood there, practically naked. He moved
toward a station that had been set up for just this purpose and
opened the tap near his head that would rain water down through a
pipe that had a ceramic head on the end of it with multiple small
holes. The effect was that of a rain shower. He moved under it and
turned his body to be sure was completely washed off, including his
head and hair.

When he was done, he closed the tap and reached
for one of the many clean towels that had been stacked nearby. He
dried himself off and came back to her.

“
How’s Growloranth?” he demanded
even before allowing her to treat his wound. It had only been a
matter of minutes since he’d come in and Growloranth was already
being treated. Isabelle had been keeping tabs on both
males.

“
He’s doing fine. No lasting
damage. They are finishing up with him as we speak. Now, let me
tend your shoulder, Robert. You need to be ready to fly when he
is.”

That got through to the handsome knight. He sat
on the stool that she had set near her supply table and presented
her with his injured shoulder. She noted that he positioned himself
so that he could look out over the wide ledge to where Growloranth
lay, being treated as well. When Robert didn’t speak to her, she
assumed he was communing silently with his dragon partner. She
looked at his wound, deciding on the best course of treatment.
Burnjelly would do, she thought, and began applying it over the
area.

He sighed in relief as the burnjelly started to
take effect.

“
Thank you for taking care of
him,”
came Growloranth’s voice in her mind
as she worked on Robert.

“
No need for thanks. I could do no
less. How are you feeling? Is there anything I can do to
help?”
she answered back.

“
I am well enough now. The
princesses have seen to the worst of my wounds and Lady Silla will
handle the rest. Just take care of Robert. He would neglect himself
if you were not here.”

“
Not on my watch.”
She winked at the dragon who lay several yards
away, and he blinked one of his large, jeweled eyes at her in
return. They had an understanding.
“What
happened to get you two into such a state? And where were Tildeth
and Bear when this happened? Do you think they’re all
right?”
She carefully sent her words to
both Robert and Growloranth.

“
They were running high guard
reconnaissance, feeding Jared and Darian intelligence so they could
run the battle plan,” Robert explained in a tired voice.

“
They saw us engage a knot of
skiths. They knew we were on our way back here after we got
burned,”
Growloranth added.
“But they were fine the last we saw them.
Unlikely to be used on the ground because of their usefulness in
the sky.”

Isabelle finished with Robert’s treatment and
was about to comment when she heard the trumpeting call that meant
another dragon was coming in for a not-so-well-controlled landing.
There had been quite a few skidding, hopping landings on the ledge
today as injured dragons did their best to make it back home for
treatment.

Isabelle and Robert both rushed to help in any
way they could, but it proved unnecessary. The dragon landed and
Isabelle saw it was Sir Gareth and his dragon partner, Kelvan, one
of Princess Belora’s mates. He didn’t dismount, but reached a hand
down for her. She climbed up on Kelvan’s back as word spread
silently from dragon to dragon.

Growloranth told them what was
happening.

“
The skiths have been defeated, but
the enemy troops are now firing on our forces with diamond-tipped
weapons. Two dragons have been shot out of the sky and Princess
Belora is going with Gareth to treat them enough so they can fly
home.”

“
Diamond-tipped weapons?” Isabelle
repeated, wondering why that was significant.

Robert took her hand and squeezed gently.
“Diamond is the only edge sharp enough and strong enough to cut
through dragon scale.”

“
Sweet Mother of All!” she
whispered, shocked. She had believed dragons were the next best
thing to invincible. The idea that they could be shot down made her
gasp. Especially knowing that Tilly and Bear were out there, flying
reconnaissance.
“Did he say who was shot
down?”
she asked Growloranth
quickly.

“
No, he did not, but I fear my mate
is among the fallen,”
Growloranth replied
solemnly.
“And I cannot fly to her aid.
The Princess Adora forbade it. And truth to tell, I do not have the
strength.”

Both Isabelle and Robert ran to Growloranth’s
side. Tears were streaking out of his large, jewel-like eyes,
rolling down his scaled skin to harden on the ground into a small
pile of sparkling gems. How something so beautiful could come out
of such heartbreak was beyond her comprehension, but that was
unimportant now. What was important was the pain the dragon and his
knight—and Isabelle too, if she was being honest—were
feeling.

“
I am with you, my old friend.
Tildeth will be all right. You would know it if she wasn’t.” Robert
stroked the dragon’s neck, leaning against him, offering comfort in
whatever way he could.

Isabelle reached out to touch the dragon’s
face. She had never dared to touch him before, but this was a dire
circumstance. Her heart opened and the dragon stepped inside, his
pain reaching out to her.

She stared into his eyes and simply stood with
him, a hum of power passing between them. And then it became a real
hum, in her throat, begging for release. Before she knew it, she
was humming a tune of calm and peace. A sacred chant that would
bring comfort until they knew for certain what was happening out on
the battlefield.

Little by little all frantic activity on the
ledge calmed. Anxiety was banished and Isabelle felt the world
still. She eased her chant and drew back some of the power, knowing
the injured dragons needed more than those who were treating them.
She found she could control the direction and amount of calming
energy she sent out into the area. She saved the best for
Growloranth, calming his anxiety while they awaited
news.

And then the bugling call of Tildeth reached
their ears. She was landing.

It wasn’t graceful and it was far from pretty,
but she made it home.

Growloranth used what little strength he had
left to crawl over to her side, staying out of the way of the
healers, but managing to twin his neck with his mate’s in greeting
while he looked over her injuries for himself. She had a slash that
went up one leg and over her belly. It had probably gone through
her wing as well. The wing showed signs of recent healing, but the
wound on her leg and body were still in need of
attention.

Adora and Silla busied themselves at her side.
Silla used her skills to clean and prepare the wound while Adora
called on her magic to begin healing it. She couldn’t heal it
completely in one session, but she could give it a good start, and
stop the worst of the bleeding.

Robert stayed by Growloranth’s side while
Isabelle went to help Silla, handing her whatever she needed, when
she needed it. At one point, Silla grabbed her hand.

“
A little calm wouldn’t hurt right
now,” she said. Isabelle understood.

She began chanting quietly while they worked
and the calm spread to Tilly. Isabelle added a verse to her chant
to dull the dragon’s pain while the healers did their
work.

A little tingle shot through her when
Isabelle’s magic met Adora’s, but they were compatible. The magics
blended at the seam where they met, but didn’t dissipate each
other. In fact, they seemed to augment each other a little
bit.

Adora caught her eye and smiled as she went
back to work. It took quite a while, but between all their efforts,
Tildeth’s blood stopped flowing all over the landing ledge and her
wound began to close. It took a moment before Isabelle realized
Tilly was going to survive.

The relief she felt was so intense, she almost
lost her footing as her chant ended. She realized in that moment
that she cared a lot more than she’d thought for Tilly…and
Growloranth. She loved them both as friends, or older, far wiser
siblings.

And, she realized in an almost blinding flash
of insight, she loved their knights. Period. She just loved them.
Which reminded her…

“
Where’s Bear?” she
whispered.

Tilly must have heard her question,
for her deep, feminine voice came into Isabelle’s mind a moment
later.
“I could not carry him with my
injury and he was hurt as well. The spear got me, but he was hit by
an arrow. They were seeing to his wounds and will bring him here as
soon as it is safe.”

Isabelle’s heart ached. She wanted to go to
him, but there was no way. She would have to trust to his
comrades—and Belora—to make sure he made it. Robert’s arm came
around her shoulder and pulled her back against him. He rested his
chin atop her head and surrounded her in his warmth.

She clung to him, sharing the worry over their
missing man. She tried sending a message directly to Bear’s mind,
but he was too far away.

“
I cannot bespeak him,” she
whispered, clinging to Robert’s arm.

“
Neither can I, but don’t worry. He
is simply out of range,” Robert assured her.

Tilly raised her head and looked at
them.
“He may be, but there are dragons
flying between here and the battle. I will ask one to act as
relay.”
She closed her eyes and almost
immediately opened them again.
“He is
near!”
She sounded excited.
“He is unconscious but being carried on the back
of old Algath. Look for a green dragon. He should be here any
minute.”

Tilly’s head swung around, looking eagerly
toward the landing ledge though she couldn’t move while the healers
were still working on her injuries. Isabelle went as close as she
dared to the busy ledge, not wanting to be in the way, but
straining her eyes to see if she could pick out a green dragon in
the blue sky.

“
There!” Robert breathed excitedly.
He was right behind her. “I see him.”

“
Bear?” Isabelle
whispered.

“
No, I see Algath. But there is
more than one knight on his back. Good ol’ Algath. See over there?”
Robert pointed past her ear and she followed the line of his arm to
the correct portion of the sky. Sure enough, there was a green dot
moving rapidly closer and resolving from dot into very large
dragon. Algath had an extra large wingspan.

Within moments, the large green dragon landed
nearby. A knight jumped down off his back and reached up for Bear,
who was slung across the dragon’s back, unconscious. Robert moved
to assist, despite his shoulder injury, as did a number of other
people. Princess Adora was still working her healing magic on
Tildeth, but Silla rushed to Bear’s side, as did
Isabelle.

She saw at once that Bear had a hastily wrapped
wound on his lower left leg, but the more worrying gash was on his
right temple. It was the head wound that had caused his unconscious
state, in all probability. The leg wound was still bleeding, but it
wasn’t too bad. It could be stitched up and healed in a few weeks
time. Less, if a bit of magic was used.

Silla went to work while Isabelle assisted,
handing the healer things as she asked for them.

“
A bit of your chanting wouldn’t go
amiss, if you have the energy,” Silla took a moment to say as
Isabelle handed her a clean towel.

Isabelle thought about which of the variations
her mother had taught her to use and decided on the best for this
case. She centered herself and a moment later, began to hum the
melody, building into the actual song of the chant by slow degrees,
stirring the power that dwelled in all living things to aid her in
her work.